Infolding machine



March 1934- w. L. DIXON ET AL 3 3 INFOLDING MACHINE Filed June 14, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I I Z! $96 INVENTORS ATTORNEYS.

Patented Mar. 6, 1934 INFOLDENG MACHINE tion of Maine Application June 14, 1932, Serial. No. 617,229

7 Claims.

This invention relates to infolding machines such as are used for turning in and pressing the margins of blanks composed of woven material used for example in the manufacture of articles of apparel. The invention is herein shown applied to a machine in which the blank defining and folding elements are designed for the production of a clothing part, specifically the flap or the facing of a pocket to become part of a coat, waistcoat or other article of Wear; although various other shapes may be folded to advantage with the present invention.

Examples of prior folding machines include certain machines of the well known Reece type such as the machine for folding all four margins of a cuff shown in prior patent of Dixon 956,950 of May 3, 1910; machine for folding the bellows pleat and all margins of a jumper or overall pocket as in prior patent of Dixon 1,753,648 of April 8, 1930; and machine for folding certain small shapes of cloth articles such as garter pads as in prior copending application of Dixon Serial No. 518,702 filed February 27, 1931.

An important object of the present invention is to improve the infolding of certain woven fabric articles which are subject to injury in ordinary cloth infolding machines wherein the folded parts or articles are subjected to a strong pressure or squeezing along the margins, while sub ject to heat, to fix the folds and hold them against accidental unfolding until the folded blanks, parts or articles have been permanently connected or made apart of the garment. A typical example is a part or article, such as the facing or flap of a pocket, which is composed of woolen fabric or other soft fabric having a nap, such as worsteds employed in the manufacture of sack suits or similar clothing, frequently referred to as sack suit materials or stuffs. The difficulty referred to is the very objectionable impairment and injury of the folded and pressed pocket or other product, due to the powerful squeezing pressure along the margins, especially when subject to heating; this operating to flatten or felt the nap and substantially destroy it and produce an observable shine or glaze at the pressed parts of the folded blank. A distinct marking and glazing along the folded and pressed edges is produced in the infolding of articles of the kind described, and as stated it is the main purpose of the present invention to avoid this impairment of the product without impairing it in any other manner or rendering it unadapted for its intended purpose.

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will be explained in the hereinafter following description of an illustrative embodiment thereof or will be understood to those conversant with the subject. To the attainment of such objects and advantages the present invention consists in the novel infolding machine, and the novel features of combination, arrangement and construction herein illustrated or described.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 11s a right elevation of an infolding machine of the Reece type, substantially similar to that of said prior application, but with the present invention embodied therein; this figure showing the parts in initial position, ready for the insertion of an unfolded blank.

Fig. 2 on a larger scale is a top plan View showing the machine elements immcdiatefy around the folding position, with the infolders in their initial position, but with the defining member or templet now lowered upon the blank upon the supporting bed; and partly broken away to show parts beneath.

Fig. 3 is a similar top view in a later stage, after the infolders have been moved inwardly to form the infolds over the templet edges.

Fig. 4 is a central longitudinal vertical section view, looking from the front, and showing the parts in a later stage of operation, after the withdrawal of the templet from the infolds.

Fig. 5 is a section View similar to Fig. 4 but showing a later or the pressing stage of operation, following which the infolders are retracted and the completed blank removed.

The blank B, which may be considered as composed of sack suit material, cut substantially to pocket form, may be supported by the main bed 21 of the machine, or rather upon the central raised pad or pedestal 22 of the bed, this being an interchangeable part having the contour of the finished article.

In Fig. l is shown the upper part of a complete, power driven, cam operated folding machine generally similar to said application and prior patents, which may be referred to for details not herein described. The bed 21 and pad 22 are shown at the front part of the machine, while at the rear part are upstanding brackets 24 having journalled in their upper ends a rock shaft 25 from which extend forwardly a pair of arms 26 carrying the defining member or templet 27 at their free ends. The arms may be lowered to position the templet upon the blank and raised to elevate the templet therefrom by means of a rearwardly extending lever 29 attached to the rock shaft 25, with a link or connection 30 extending from lever 29 to a suitable operating cam, not shown, timed in coordination with the cams that effect the inward and outward movements of the infolders and the lifting and pressing movements thereof. The details of the templet will be subsequently described.

Referring to the infolding system, there are shown opposite end infolders 35 and front and rear side infolders 36 and 36 all of which infolders are slidably supported upon a table or plate 37 which is raised and lowered at certain times as will be described. The inward and outward movements of the infolders may be in accordance with prior practice. Being shaped to fold the four sides of a pocket flap, having two corners rounded at one long side, the rear infolder 36 may be arranged first to be moved inwardly to fold the long side which terminates with square corners, and thereafter the front side infolder 36 and the two end infolders 35 may be moved inwardly simultaneously thus folding the two ends and the front side of the blank including the two rounded corners. To prevent conflict between the front side infolder and the end infolders these may be connected by a sliding bridge plate 35 attached underneath one infolder and sliding within the adjacent one. To accommodate the overlap of the rear infolder with the end infolders each of these may be partly cut away or thinned at its upper or under side as indicated adjacent to the rear corners.

The lifting table 37 of the infolder system may surround the area in which the blank is supported and may take part in both the infolding and pressing operations. The infolders, whether on a lifting table or directly on the bed, may be in any desired number and arrangement; with some pocket flaps the rear infolder and its function might be omitted.

The mechanism for effecting the inward and outward movements of the infolders is partially indicated in Fig. 1. The right end infolder 35 has a longitudinal shank 4'7 pivoted to the upper end of a rod 50 which is shown telescoping within a sleeve 51 that constitutes the upper arm of a lever fulcrumed at 52 and having a depending arm 53 rocked by a suitable cam to effect the infolder movements in proper time with the other operations. The other end infolder may be similarly actuated, and the front infolder may derive its motion from the end infolders as in said prior application, while the rear infolder may have separate cam actuation. In lieu of the described arrangement and actuation of the infolders they may be indefinitely varied and may for example be arranged and actuated as in said prior patents.

The system of infolders is intended to be initially elevated, prior to the inward movements, so that the infolders may normally lie flush with the top surface of the pad 22 but may be lifted thereabove to permit their inward movements over the pad; and at a later stage the infolder system is intended to be forcibly lowered upon the blanks resting upon the pad to effect a powerful squeezing action to press and fix the folds, which may be effected by cam connections to the infolder carrying table 37. Thus in Fig. 1 is shown a system of depending links 66 having their upper ends connected to the infolder table and their lower ends extended to suitable cams not shown for lifting and lowering the infolder system to I take part in the several operations.

shown depending a hollow post 97, rigidly attached to the body, and at its lower end carrying the defining plate 103 which forms the templet proper but which is cut out at its center to receive the holder plate 106 to be described. The templet may thus be lowered to bring its defining plate 103 directly upon the blanks upon the pad, and may thereafter be lifted therefrom; and the outline of the templet preferably corresponds with that of the pad. It is to be understood that the blank supporting pad 22 is a preferable but not an essential part of a folding machine; it permits the retracted infolders to be dropped into flush position, and facilitates the inserting of unfolded blanks; but manifestly the entire top surface of the bed might be flush with the surface on which the folding is effected, and the lowering of the retracted infolders omitted. The top surface of the pad is merely a portion of the blank receiving bed or support of the machine.

In order to permit effective pressing and fixing of the infolds of a cloth blank it is desirable to ex tract the defining plate or templet from the folds before the final pressure; and it is desirable that the final pressure be effected upon the blank supporting bed or pad and immediately after the in folding. For the purposes of the present invention a templet might be employed which can be bodily extracted horizontally from the infolds, for example by sliding, or shortened or contracted in its dimensions to withdraw from the infolds, as in said prior patents. For purposes of illustration however the mode of extracting a templet is herein shown which forms the subject of said prior application, as will now be described.

The templet, in addition to its defining plate 103, is provided with a holder plate or hold down 106, of smaller size than the templet defining plate and occupying the cut out interior thereof. The holder plate should be of such large size and arrangement as effectively to hold down the blank upon the supporting bed, after the infolders have retracted outwardly and during the extracting of the defining plate from the folds by lifting away from the bed. As a relatively long narrow shape is being folded the hold down plate may consist of a central portion bearing upon the center of the blank and longitudinal wings 107 extending well out toward the ends of the blank and thereby underlapping the lower side of the post 9'7 to which the defining plate 103 is attached, so that the post forms a stop for relative upward movement of the holder plate. The holder plate therefore is not attached to the post but is separately mounted on a carrier 110 having an upwardly extending stem 112 extending through the hollow interior of the post, and above the post being provided with a pair of nuts 113 forming a stop determining the relative downward movement of the stem and holder plate.

The supporting post 97 of the defining plate and the supporting stem 112 of the holder plate are preferably cylindrical and therefore means are provided to prevent relative rotation of the stem;

this being shown in the form of a radius arm 115 tive upward and downward movements with re- 1 spect to the definer plate. When the templet is raised the holder plate relatively descends, as

shown in Figs. 1 and 4. Instead of relying upon gravity to depress relatively the holder plate a spring is shown, accommodated for example within the hollow post 97 and surrounding the stem 112 of the holder plate carrier.

The mechanism thus far described corresponds in general with said prior application, including the reference numbers, and the operation of the parts thus far described may be generally out-- lined as follows. After an unfolded blank is laid upon the bed pad and positioned by suitable gages, the timed operations occur as follows. The templet descends, the holder 106 contacting the blank and its spring then yielding as the definer comes into contact with the blank. The templet remains in this position while the infolding system is lifted followed by'the inward movements of the several infolders in proper order, thus producing the infolds around, the margin of the blank. The infolders may now be bodily depressed to effect a preliminary pressure of the folds and then relaxed and retracted outwardly, leaving the folds uncovered. Immediately the definer part of the templet is lifted above the level of the infolders. t extracts itself from the blank folds, which are temporarily slightly opened; but the clefiner remains holding the blank correctly in position. The infolders immediately advance again, restoring the infolds to their inward position, and the infolders there pause, while the templet may be bodily elevated, removing the holder plate from the blanks; and at the same time a squeezing pressure being applied by the pulling down of the infolders toward the supporting bed, thus effectively squeezing and creasing the infolds in a manner to retain their shape until embodied in a garment. Finally the infolders are relaxed and again retracted outwardly, the completed blank being removed to a stack and replaced by a new one. During the pressing the blanks are subjected to heating, to improve the creasing effect, by the use of any known heating 'means, such as electric means or resistance units 23 in the bed.

The present invention, for the avoidance of the recited difiiculty of injury or marking of the face side of blanks of sack suit or other napped fabrics, consists in constructing or providing the bed, or its blank supporting surface or pad, with a specially constructed covering or mat, namely of openwork or pervious construction, and of extent and location to underlie the edges of the blank and to take part in the pressing of the folds thereof. By this arrangement it is found that injury to the face side of the blank, namely the lower side contacting the bed, is substantially prevented; the ill effects of fiat metallic pressure under heat are avoided, and the nap of the material is not destroyed, smoothed or glazed. The construction both avoids the fiat character of pressure against the face side of the blank edges, and avoids the applying of excess temperature thereto by the tempering of the heat to which the bed is subjected. The improvement in machines for infolding cloth blanks may be considered as the combination with the blank edge defining means or templet, and the edge infolding means,

of a blank supporting bed having overlying it a mat of one or more layers of openwork material upon which the blank rests during the defining, infolding and pressing operations, together with means for effecting a squeezing pressure upon the infolded edges of the blank resting upon such bed,

thereby to crease and fix the folds without injury to the face side of the blank opposite to such infolded edges. This pressure is shown as applied by means of the infolders, first, before, and second, after the templet is extracted; but the presssure applying means may act through a different element, as a special presser coming down upon the folds as is known in the art.

Referring specifically to the illustrated embodiment, the top surface or openwork covering of the bed pad is shown as a mat ll composed for example of pervious metallic material, such as a relatively fine wire mesh or screen, preferably woven, or a plurality thereof, there being shown an underneath layer or mesh 12 and on top of that a second layer or mesh 13. For example the under mesh may be a No. 40 screen of copper, bronze or brass Wire, and the upper mesh similar Wire of No. mesh; and an intermediate mesh of intermediate gage might be included. The combined meshes or layers, constituting the openwork met 11, may be attached in any suitable manner to the top side of the bed or pad; for example the upper layer may be extended beyond the pad, bent down and secured by a surrounding strap; but it is usually sufiicient to trim the layers in close register with the edge of the pad and fasten them down upon the pad by attaching screws 14 of suitable number and location removed from the edges to be pressed. When the bed is not provided with a raised pad the wire mesh mat may be extended beyond the blank defining and pressing contour. The arrangement of finer mesh layers overlying less fine ones is advantageous in that the top layer affords a more nearly continuous surface for eifective creasing purposes, whereas the under layers increase the thickness of the mat, and provide larger interstices or spaces beneath the smaller ones of the top layer to accommodate fibers of the nap.

The described mat is pervious in the sense of having numerous fine perforations or spaces,.into which the fibers of the nap may extend; the mat presenting only very small and separated contact points with the fabric, and avoiding the disadvantage of a flat metal bed or support. It cooperates to preserve the nap both in the preliminary and final pressing. It precludes heat injury, permitting the use of heat without marking or polishing of the material. It substantially eliminates a drawback which has practically precluded the use of folding machines for the production of such garment pockets or other component parts.

It will thus be seen that there has been described an infolding machine of the class referred to embodying the principles and attaining the objects of the present invention. Since various matters of combination, arrangement and construction may be modified without departing from the'principles of the invention it is not intended to limit the same to such matters except so far as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A machine for info-lding cloth blanks com prising, in combination with blank edge defining and inf clding means, a blank supporting bed having overlying it a mat of one or more layers of openwork material upon which the blank rests during defining, infolding and pressing, said mat covering the portion of the bed over which the infolding means operates and means for effecting squeezing pressure upon the infolded edges of the blank resting upon such mat, thereby to crease and fix the edge folds without injury to the marginal face of the blank opposite to such infolded edges.

2. In a machine for defining, infolding and pressing the edges of cloth blanks, a bed for supporting the blank during defining, infolding and pressing, and provided with a top surface or covering mat of openwork construction underlying the blank edges and taking part in the pressing of the folds thereof. I

3. A machine asin claim 2 and wherein the covering mat of the bed comprises one or more layers of metallic wire mesh.

4. A machine as in claim 2 and wherein the covering mat of the bed comprises a relatively fine wire mesh overlying a less fine wire mesh.

5. A machine for info-lding pocket and like blanks of sack suit material comprising, in combination with means for defining the outline of the blank and means for infolding the blank margin while so defined, a blank supporting bed having overlying it a metallic mat of openwork material upon which the blank rests during defining, infolding and pressing, said mat covering the portion of the bed over which the infolding means operates, and means for effecting squeezing pressure upon the infolded edges of the blank resting upon such mat after the removal of the defining means thereby to crease and fix the folds without smoothing or glazing the nap at the edges of the face side of the folded blank.

6. A machine for infolding blanks of napped cloth comprising, in combination with blank delining and edge infolding means, a blank supporting bed having overlying it one or more layers of wire mesh upon which the blank rests during defining, infolding and pressing, and means for efiecting squeezing pressure upon the folds of the blanks resting upon such bed thereby to crease and fix the folds.

7. A machine as in claim 6 and wherein are a plurality of wire mesh layers overlying the bed and attached thereto with the top layer of finer mesh than the bottom one.

WALTER L. DIXON. JOSEPH H. PIKUL. 

